FAMILY RADIO MISSION TO SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
October 25 to November 5, 2004
LETTER #1
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105)
Tuesday, October 26, 2004. By God’s wonderful grace, our group of “Ambassadors for Christ” from various parts of the US and Holland arrived in Seoul, South Korea on another Family Radio mission trip today. We plan to proclaim the True Gospel of Grace to many of the ten million inhabitants of this city and its environs during the next nine days by distributing 200,000 “Does God Love You?” tracts and some Bibles in the Korean language.
Our group of nineteen comprises 13 men and 6 women. One is a Korean lady who lives here in Seoul and who has been on many Family Radio trips in the past. She was a big help on setting up this trip and getting the tracts printed and delivered to our hotel. We also have three others in the group who speak Korean. The tracts include schedules for Family Radio’s Korean programming in the Short-Wave facility in Taiwan. Family Radio is now airing Bible- based teaching in Korean on a daily basis. Korean is one of the six new languages the Lord has added in the last 14 months that covers an area with nearly 600 million people in Asia and the Western Pacific region. The tracts also provide information about Family Radio’s Korean website that will help the people here learn more about God’s Word and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please pray that we will be faithful to God’s Word in all that we do in the name of Jesus Christ and that God will use us to accomplish His good pleasure in the lives of many in this part of the world.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004. After breakfast and a meeting to line out the work, five teams went to their assigned locations throughout the city by taxi and subway. The acceptance of the tracts varied by location and probably averaged about 40 percent. Those who did take the tracts kept them. Many people were seen reading them, and the discard factor was very low.
Apparently there is a general resistance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ due to the attitude that Christianity is a “Western religion”. Please pray that God will do a mighty work of grace in the hearts of these dear people.
"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." (Psalm 43:3)
In Christian love,
The Family Radio Mission Group in France
LETTER #2
"And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:7-8)
Thursday, October 28, 2004. By God's wonderful grace, our second day of work here went very well. The weather has been excellent with warm, sunny days and cool nights, and we learned a technique that has boosted the acceptance factor of the tracts by 20 percentage points or more.
This is a formal society, and the Korean people often greet each other with a respectful bow. We learned that offering the tracts with a slight bow shows personal recognition and indicates that the tract is a personal gift. People will often take the tracts with a return bow to indicate a "thank you". This is a bit awkward at times as crowds of people stream by, but the results are well worth the extra effort to emphasize the fact that the Gospel of Christ is indeed a precious gift.
In general, the overall acceptance factor is good, and the discard factor remains low. If people do not want to keep the tracts, they usually discreetly deposit them in a trash can out of our sight. Very few are dropped on the ground for us to pick up, and we thank the Lord for that.
We see lots of people reading the tracts, and we have had very little reaction to its message either positive or negative. However, what feedback we have received has generally been in agreement. That may be because the Koreans are generally very polite and do not want to be insulting to "foreigners"; but we are praying that the message of the Gospel of Christ is touching the hearts of many of these dear people and that God will do a mighty work of salvation with the power of His Word on the Korean peninsula -- both North and South.
"For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee." (Psalms 84:11-12)
In Christian love,
The Family Radio Mission Group in France
LETTER #3
"The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly" (Proverbs 3:33-34)
Friday, October 29, 2004. We conducted our tract distribution work today in many new locations in Seoul, and the acceptance factor continues to improve with experience. By God's grace, the people treat us cordially and show a willingness to help us find our way around this huge city whenever we need assistance. So far, we have encountered very little opposition to the Gospel message on the tract, and the beautiful weather continues.
Two teams worked in and around two different train stations today thus allowing the tracts to be taken to other parts of the country. Another team worked in a large market where the vendors come from outside of Seoul to sell all manner of goods every five days. This affords another opportunity for the tracts to travel to more distant locations when those folks return to their homes.
One of our seven first-time members offers the following impressions of the work we are doing here:
"Every morning God assembles this ragtag band of soldiers to do battle in the land of South Korea armed with the Sword of the Spirit. Each warrior loads thousands of tracts containing God¡¯s Word into his backpack and marches forth with aching back and swollen feet to joyfully serve his Lord and Savior as best he can. He is propelled into motion by a deep love of God's Word and a love for the marvelous people to whom He is about to minister.
"We are, of course, just another group of Christians going forth to do the work which God Himself has given us to do. Being better housed, fed and transported than the previous bands, we venture forth to fight in a spiritual battle that is guaranteed to be won.
"We know that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and that our miserable attempts at planting the precious seed will result in a harvest that is totally acceptable to God. We fully understand how fortunate we are, having been given an opportunity to serve in God's army and to walk in the swollen footprints of previous saints.
As we march forth, we pray that the Mercy and Grace of God will be as a great tidal wave washing over this land and that God will save a great multitude to the Praise and Glory of his Name. Maranatha.
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21)
In Christian love,
The Family Radio Mission Group in France